With dozens of the “50 Greatest Vikings” celebrating the franchise’s 50th anniversary on Sunday in the Minneapolis Convention Center, leave it to stories of the Metropolitan Stadium days to lend perspective to tonight’s outdoor game at TCF Bank Stadium.

Vikings and Bears players have expressed concerns about the stadium’s frozen turf as an impromptu replacement following the Metrodome roof collapse last week. Punter Chris Kluwe tweeted that the field was “unplayable” after the team’s walk-through late Sunday morning.

Tonight’s game will be the first outdoor home game in 29 years for the Vikings, and the great players who once lit up the old digs aren’t worried for the current players braving the elements.

They’ve probably seen worse.

“You’ve got to learn to tough it up,” said former running back Chuck Foreman, who played for the Vikings from 1973-79. “That field will be perfect to play on. That’s the way the game has been played for years. These guys get spoiled. Go out there, embrace the weather, enjoy it. Just keep yourself warm. It’s all mental.”

Foreman was one of more than 40 former and current Vikings who attended Sunday’s banquet and unveiling of the team’s 50 greatest. Interim coach Leslie Frazier introduced five of the current Vikings who made the list: running back Adrian Peterson, cornerback Antoine Winfield, defensive end Jared Allen, guard Steve Hutchinson and defensive tackle Kevin Williams.

Players of today’s era have more money at risk when it comes to field conditions and potential injury, and the hits might be more violent because of the enhanced athleticism.

Kluwe, for one, said he is concerned about the field being “as hard as concrete” despite the TCF crew heating the field and covering it with a tarp for about 24 hours before Sunday’s practice.

Officials continued to heat the field Sunday night. Adding intrigue to the game is the snow expected to cover the Twin Cities sometime today.

“Anyone that hits their head is getting a concussion,” Kluwe tweeted. “I find it interesting that the NFL can claim an emphasis on player safety, and then tell us the field is fine. It’s beyond hypocritical … I can only hope, however unlikely, that no one gets catastrophically injured at the train wreck that’s about to take place tomorrow.”

Frazier, who played through plenty of blustery outdoor games at Soldier Field as a Bear from 1981-86, said the field will be safe and that players shouldn’t be concerned.

“I think our players will embrace (outdoor tradition) as the game goes on,” Frazier said. “They’ll be into it.”

Back in the Bud Grant era, players weren’t allowed to wear gloves or hover around heating systems on the sideline.

All they got was a cape to go over their shoulders, and even those didn’t work, former Vikings wide receiver Ahmad Rashad said.

According to him, the Vikings of the late ’70s never became consumed with the cold.

“If you get caught up in how cold it is or the field’s too hard or you can’t get your cleats in the field, you’ve got no shot,” Rashad said. “It’s the same for both teams; you just have to go out there and execute.”

Facilities might be “perfect” for today’s athlete, Rashad said, but a frozen field can actually lessen the impact of violent hits.

“It’s hard to get hurt because it’s harder for people to get leverage on a hard surface,” he said. “It’s tougher on Astroturf when you can get all that torque. There’s no torque on a frozen field.”

If tonight’s game gets tough and nasty, Foreman encourages the Vikings to think about the minus-20 and minus-30 wind-chill temperatures he endured as a player.

“They are not going to experience that,” Foreman said. “They should be able to handle it. You wear your elbow pads and your kneepads. You learn not to hurt yourself.”

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Sports

It was clear early on that the Gophers women’s basketball team was in for a physical game against Army. Minnesota didn’t seem to mind all the hands, elbows and hips directed its way — the Gophers play in the Big Ten, after all — and earned a 70-52 victory over the Black Knights on Thursday night at Williams Arena. “I...

TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors pushed aside the Minnesota Timberwolves — again. With Toronto down 95-94 with 8:46 left, DeRozan and Lowry keyed a 17-4 Raptors run that took the game away from the youthful Timberwolves. Toronto eventually pulled out a 124-110 victory, handing Minnesota its 13th straight loss at Air Canada Centre. “We just...

Members of the Missouri Tigers volleyball team are ready to have about 5,500 people rooting against them Friday night at 7:15 p.m. when they take on Minnesota’s Golden Gophers in the first round of the NCAA volleyball Minneapolis regional. “We’ve competed against a Big Ten team (Purdue, whom 27-5 Missouri defeated to advance to the regional semifinal) and that wasn’t a...

Unafraid of introducing his players to advanced statistics, Gophers coach Richard Pitino routinely tells his squad where they stand among college basketball’s top teams in stats not included in a box score. He prints out charts that combine traditional and advanced statistics, discusses them with players at practice and has an assistant track them during games to help with adjustments....

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was optimistic punt returner Marcus Sherels will be able to play Sunday at Jacksonville, which would be a boost to a special-teams unit that struggled in several phases in last week’s loss to Dallas. Sherels has missed three of the past four games because of injury, including the previous two. Adam Thielen and Cordarrelle Patterson assumed...

When Mat Robson visited the University of Minnesota last month, he knew it was for him. Bright lights. Big city. Elite players. In Minneapolis, the 20-year-old saw a place similar to his hometown, and a chance to play goalie in front of 10,000 fans at Mariucci Arena. “The first and most important thing was going to a great program,” said...